Sand Volleyball Tournament

On Saturday, April 29, the Program Design and Management class will be hosting a sand volleyball tournament at Ouachita. The event will take place at the sand pit volleyball courts next to East village at 1 p.m.

Dr. Mike Reynolds, professor of kinesiology and leisure studies, coordinator of outdoor education, and teacher of the Program Design and Management class, hopes the event will help students learn how to practically put together a program and run it properly.

It is not the first time that such an event has been held, but it is the first time for some of the seniors running it. Christian Rycraw, a senior kinesiology major and speech communications minor, is part of a team in the class that is putting this program together. “The whole objective is to put on a program and actually try to get revenue from it for the class and the kinesiology department. They teach you how to actually do a program and gain experience with it so you can put it on your resume,” Rycraw said.

The tournament will have a seeded structured, with one-game eliminations until there are only two teams left. Those two teams will then play a final match against one another to determine the tournament winner. The seeding will be based on the perceived strength of the team. “If some volleyball girls come out that we know are really good, we’ll probably give them the number one and number two seed, and then after that we will try to see who are the best teams and seed them accordingly,” Rycraw said. As a reward, players from the first-place team will each receive a $10 gift card to Sonic.

For teams who would like to sign up, there is a $2 entry fee per player. Each team can have six to eight players, with only six playing on the court at a time. Teams can sign up online or at the event. There are no gender limits on the teams, meaning that a team can comprise of as many males or females as they decide. Even though this is the official rule, the organizers would like to see mixed teams. “We want it to be co-ed. We don’t want the whole volleyball team to stack up on everyone, and then we don’t want a lot of guys ganging up on the girls,” Rycraw said.

Supporters from Ouachita, Henderson and the public are welcome to the event, and are encouraged to come and support this class effort. For any more information about the event, or how to get involved contact Christian Rycraw at ryc50244@obu.edu.